Is this gamey?

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Joachim:
Is this gamey? As a Newb it seems to be the very standard must do early strategy (unless specifically ruled out). If you dont trade someone else will - but I guess that is not much of a justification. But it is hard seeing two other empires obviously doing a research plan and trade and hence getting double (or triple for the tri-partite pacts) your tech.

I don't have a problem with a little wheeling and dealing. But when it gets to the point where you have two or three empires and one is researching ships, one is researching weapons and one is researching shields and all trading what each of them gets, I have a problem.

First of all it's incredibly tedious and boring to me to do this. Secondly as I said before it takes the real diplomacy out of the game for me, which is one of my favorite parts. Of course I pay a price for my lack of conformity. It is not uncommon at all for me to be seriously behind in tech by turn 40 in a game. But that is my "reward" for playing the game on my terms.

One option, and one that has become fairly common, is to outright ban tech gifts and trading. This to me is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. As I do think a little trading can add spice to the game. It's just taken to the extreme it gets to be what I would call gamey. Of course that's a totaly subjective definition and not much use to anyone.

Geoschmo